books.google.nl - This is the history of Dutch influence on Japan during the so-called 'closed centuries' between 1640 and 1853. Dutch maritime traders provided the only commercial link which Japan maintained with the west, and were thus the sole channel for western ideas and knowledge to reach neo-Confucian society....http://books.google.nl/books/about/Japan_and_the_Dutch_1600_1853.html?hl=nl&id=CeXqB5LcgGsC&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareJapan and the Dutch, 1600-1853